The Pac-12 will add four Mountain West schools to the conference on July 1, 2026.
On Thursday, Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State applied for Pac-12 membership, and leadership from Oregon State and Washington State — the two universities still left in the Pac-12 after 10 schools departed the conference in 2024 — accepted their applications. If the current Mountain West schools move to the Pac-12 in 2026, the Pac-12 will only need to add two more programs to reach the minimum eight schools to be an FBS conference.
Good morning! It's a beautiful new day #BackThePac pic.twitter.com/jfIU1Gk22u
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 12, 2024
"For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics," Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement. "We will continue to pursue bold, cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today."
According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, the Pac-12 had a massive "war chest" of $250 million in resources available — primarily from payouts for the NCAA Tournament and television contracts — to court Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State to the conference. The Pac-12 could spend around $187 million to add those schools to the league, "though the Pac-12's existing resources could be leveraged to help offset that difference," Dodd reported.
The long-term goal of the Pac-12's expansion is to rebuild the conference as a power-level league. As of the 2024 season, the Pac-12 possesses "autonomy five" status and could retain it in a new form. The next step for the league would be finding two more schools to reach the FBS minimum of eight schools.
On Thursday, Dodd said "don't count on" Stanford and Cal to "fill out the new Pac-12 dance card," as the Cardinal and Golden Bears would face an uphill battle if the schools attempted to leave the ACC after two years.
